


The Gate

by LadyoftheValley



Series: Drabbles Inspired By... [3]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Children, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-21
Updated: 2016-08-21
Packaged: 2018-08-10 02:03:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7825936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyoftheValley/pseuds/LadyoftheValley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Akaashi has always been separated from the world by a gate. Bokuto wants to change that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Gate

Akaashi never questioned the gate that his parents kept up, separating him from the outside. He liked the quiet solitude that the gate provided. That is, until he met Bokuto, who came from the other side.

"Hey!" The sudden sound had startled Akaashi, but he controlled his expression and looked at the source of the disturbance. A boy, barely older than he, with obnoxious hair and molten gold eyes.

The boy smiled, blinding, "Hey, hey, hey! You finally looked up from that book you always have!"

Akaashi didn't know how the boy knew that he sat out here with a book every day, and it was unnerving.

"My name's Bokuto! What's yours? My friends told me that there was a ghost in this garden, but you're not a ghost, right? I mean, you're really pretty, but you look too sad. Ghosts are usually angry, right? They are on tv!"

The boy, Bokuto, keeps going on, but Akaashi is taken aback by his bluntness. People thought he was a ghost? How did that rumor get started?

And why did he call Akaashi pretty but sad?

"Excuse me," Akaashi looks at Bokuto, who is instantly quiet when he speaks, and stands from his bench, walking slowly toward the boy, "But why are you here?"

Bokuto blinks, eyes wide, "Because I've finally worked up the nerve to talk to the ghost I've heard so much about."

"Ghost?"

"Yeah!" Bokuto points up to a bridge, just visible through the trees, "Every day, me and my friends walk across that bridge. And we'll see you, and then we'll look away for three seconds and then you're gone! So they told me you're a ghost!"

Bokuto reaches in the gate, "But you're pretty and sad and real."

Akaashi pulls away from the hand, shocked, but he doesn't want to seem rude, so he slowly takes Bokuto's hand in his.

Bokuto nods like he's discovered the answers to everything, "Definitely real."

"I'm sorry, but," Akaashi pulled his hand away, "I don't understand what you mean by sad."

Bokuto's eyes got impossibly wider, "What? Your eyes are screaming that you're sad. I've never seen you around before. Do you go into town? What about school? Do you go to Fukurodani? That's where I go. But I think I'd know if someone as pretty as you went to my school."

"Bokuto-san," Akaashi is quiet, but again, it immediately shushes Bokuto, who seems completely focused on the boy in front of him. "Why don't we sit, and you ask one question at a time?"

The grin Akaashi receives in return is breathtaking, and it puts him at ease as they both sit, the unforgiving steel of the gate separating them. Bokuto asks questions adamantly and spontaneously, jumping from one topic to the next, each question seemingly disconnected from the others.

Akaashi answers each one patiently.

The questioning still hasn't stopped by the time the sun dyes the sky pink and lavender, and Akaashi holds up his hand before Bokuto can wrack his brain for another question.

"Don't you have to be home, Bokuto-san?"

"But Akaashi," He whines, "I'm not done talking to you yet! There's still so many questions I have!"

Akaashi sighs, "Well, I guess there's no choice then." He stands, and Bokuto mirrors his action. "Why don't you come over tomorrow, properly?"

"Proper-" Bokuto gasps, cheering loudly, "I get to go to Akaashi's house tomorrow!" Despite himself, Akaashi lets a small smile slip onto his face. Bokuto really was an excitable person. It was endearing. Akaashi never knew such genuine enthusiasm.

"Yes, Bokuto-san, tomorrow. Now go home and get some rest."

Bokuto waved and shouted how excited he was even after he was out of Akaashi's sight, and Akaashi sighed, getting his book and heading inside.

In all his years being inside the gate, Akaashi had never been more excited to open it.


End file.
